He was the son of Sir James Home of Whitriggs and Anne Home, daughter of George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar and Elizabeth Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon of Gight and Agnes Beaton, daughter of Cardinal David Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, and Marion Ogilvy.
His father was the son of Sir John Home and Marie Sinclair, daughter of Jean Hepburn and John Sinclair, Master of Caithness.
At that time it was thought the marriage might effect the rehabilitation of Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, who was the young husband's great uncle.
[1] Coldenknowes, or Cowdenknowes, was a Scottish barony east of the Leader Water, 32 miles southeast of Edinburgh in Berwickshire.
He married Jean Douglas (d. 1694), a daughter of William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton and Anne Keith, a daughter of George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal: Their children included: